Beauty knows the Beast’s forest in her bones—and in her blood. Though she grew up with the city’s highest aristocrats, far from her father’s old lodge, she knows that the forest holds secrets and that her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering them.
So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas…or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman. But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one prey: the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance.
Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange Beast back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin or salvation. Who will survive: the Beauty, or the Beast?

Review:

I’m such a sucker for fairy tale retelling and especially for Beauty and the Beast so I knew I couldn’t pass up on reading this one! (Also, because I love an excuse to use this gif!:)

So this did not happen in the book, but I just wanted to use this.

In every fairy tale there were rules. Even the monsters could not break them. And where, except in fairy tales, did there exist talking beasts?

The story follows the classic tale fairly closely in parts, but diverges in others by weaving in Russian folklore to add a nice twist to the tale. I really loved the fairy tale/magically feel that Spooner created. It’s a really comforting read in that you sort of know the rules of the universe. Her lyrical storytelling will take you on a magical adventure.

This is no Beast, to lay such a trap for me. This is a hunter.

Yeva and Beast’s relationship was a slow burning kind of romance. I really enjoyed the first part where they were both definitely unsure of each other. Beast needed Yeva to hunt for something he could not. Yeva had vengeance on her mind. Not exactly a foundation for a blooming romance, and yet, it was really sweet. I loved awkward grumpy Beast who didn’t want to seem nice, but was doing nice things anyway in a grumpy manner. Plus who doesn’t love a guy who’ll share his library with you!

This happened though!

Yeva was an interesting character. I liked that she had that Belle-esque desire for something more in life. Beast was a bit of a mystery. Who he was, what he was hunting, why he needed Yeva. This is where the Russian fairy tales really weaved into the story seamlessly.

I just had one big-ish that that kept me from fully loving this book. I felt it lacked the spark to make it magnificent. I didn’t feel the pull from the characters that made me go all in for them, there wasn’t this urgency that maybe, just maybe we won’t get our happily ever after. The stakes just weren’t high enough (or maybe it had to do more with the expectations of the book). But that being said, I think Hunted is still a beautifully written story that that I’m happy I read. It definitely put a smile on my face.

Overall, a lovely Beauty and the Beast retelling with a magical Russian folklore touch. Hunted is prefect read for when you need something sweet to hit the spot. Also, it’s a standalone! Everything wraps up lovely.

{*Thanks to Harper Teen and Edelweiss for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

About Meagan Spooner

New York Times bestselling author Meagan Spooner grew up reading and writing every spare moment of the day, while dreaming about life as an archaeologist, a marine biologist, an astronaut. She graduated from Hamilton College in New York with a degree in playwriting, and has spent several years since then living in Australia. She's traveled with her family all over the world to places like Egypt, South Africa, the Arctic, Greece, Antarctica, and the Galapagos, and there's a bit of every trip in every story she writes.

She currently lives and writes in Asheville, North Carolina, but the siren call of travel is hard to resist, and there's no telling how long she'll stay there. She's the author of the award-winning Starbound trilogy (These Broken Stars, This Shattered World, Their Fractured Light) and the Skylark Trilogy (Skylark, Shadowlark, Lark Ascending) as well as the upcoming Beauty and the Beast retelling Hunted.

In her spare time she plays guitar, plays video games, plays with her cat, and reads.

I have seen a lot of mixed reviews for this book. I love Beauty and the Beast so I think I would hold any retellings of that story to a pretty high standard which maybe isn’t fair to them. I am glad you liked it even if it was missing that spark that would have made it great.

I’m also a sucker for all things Beauty and the Beast, but I have to admit that I’m getting a bit worn out with all the retellings. That said, I’d be totally down for a grumpy but secretly nice guy who wanted to share his library with me! 😂